Researchers agree that young entrepreneurs can be part of the solution to the national jobs challenge if they receive strong support and encouragement from government and the general public. They also recommend that there are countless ways to help young entrepreneurs succeed.

Providing more financial capital, offering training programs on how to grow a business, creating access to larger markets as well as rewarding and accrediting them and their idea are among the fundamental tasks for youth success. entrepreneurs and their important role in the national economy. economic growth.

As a result, the Ethiopian government, especially the Ministry of Labor and Skills, is moving forward in a way to encourage young people for their remarkable and important creative ideas. With a mission to drive job creation through innovation and action, the ministry aims to facilitate the creation of 3 million jobs by 2020, 14 million by 2025 and 20 million by 2030 .

In this regard, the ministry recently accredited 30 young people for their new business idea under the Bruh Innovative Business Idea Competition. On the occasion, Minister Muffrihat Kamil, who presented the awards to the innovators, said that if ideas and results can be translated into action, it will be promising for a country’s bright future.

Noting that the number of young people seems low, she pointed out that the situation in Ethiopia indicates that it has untapped potential for entrepreneurs and job seekers. She added that the job ideas pioneered by young people have great potential to create employment opportunities for themselves and others.

She also explained that it is possible to convert the current employment-related challenges facing the nation into opportunities if young people work hard on meaningful innovative activities. It is also of paramount importance to rebrand the country with the development of entrepreneurship across the world. She further recommended the youths to work on import substitution and foreign exchange generation by producing items to be exported for the international market.

According to State Minister Nigussu Tilahun, the Bruh Innovative Business Idea competition is a call for young entrepreneurs to come up with innovative ideas to solve critical cross-sector issues such as infrastructure, health, agriculture and others to meet the needs public and become a profitable business. on my way.

The competition further aims to facilitate trainings, seed grants and acceleration to entrepreneurs whose concept is mature and can be brought to market in a timely manner. Bruh, meanwhile, will support business development, from idea generation to financially rewarding business. Increasing Bruh’s impact therefore requires active and mature business ideas that are applicable and can penetrate the market as well as generate revenue in at least three years and have the capacity to be scaled up.

This will be the basis for the flourishing of the entrepreneurial environment in Ethiopia and a multiplier effect can be seen in terms of job creation. Since the launch of the project in early January 2021, the competition has been implemented in collaboration with multiple governmental and non-governmental partners to produce highly competitive entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas and provide them with intensive 15-day trainings.

In the second edition, the Ministry of Labor and Skills is implementing the competition in partnership with UNDP, MasterCard Young Africa Works Foundation and Entrepreneurship Development Center (EDC) – Ethiopia.

Mentioning that 462 business ideas applied for the Bruh Innovative Business Idea Competition 2021, the Minister of State explained that 50 business ideas have completed the boot camp and reached the final competition and presented their business ideas to a panel of highly pro-le judges. Among these 50 applicants, the top 30 finalists received ETB 245,000 in seed grants and the top 10 also received a 6-month accelerator program, he noted.

As for the Minister of State, scope, affordability, innovation, his approach to problem solving, financial feasibility of startups were among the criteria provided to select the top 30. He further explained that the young people had received business and skills training and were recognized; adding that presenting such problem-solving ideas, especially at a time when the country is facing various problems, indicates a bright future for the country.

Daniel Jisso and Yoseph Noha, co-founders of the Bros Livestock Feed Processing organization, were among the certified entrepreneurs. Approached by The Ethiopian Herald, they said their organization is created by eight young entrepreneurs who have just graduated from different fields of study.

According to them, the company plans to start its business as a livestock feed producer with a plan to expand its production capacity and variety to different subsectors such as poultry and livestock feed. They also planned to process their products from recycling fruit peels and crops like mango, corn, pineapple, banana and others.

“Because Ethiopia is one of Africa’s premier animal possessions, we are inspired to work in this sector. In fact, there is a lack of animal feed in the country. Therefore, our association will directly benefit the agricultural sector and the actors involved in it”, they underlined.

Thanking Bruh Innovative Business Ideas Competition, Ministry of Labor and Skills, UNDP, Entrepreneurship Development Center – Ethiopia for the golden opportunity provided to them, the entrepreneurs have explained that they will start their activity within three months of the period. As for them, they received work land from the government and ordered machinery in collaboration with the Development Bank of Ethiopia.

Betrework Mitku, founder and general manager of the Batica Waste Plastic Recycling Association, said his company provides a wide range of household plastic solutions and raw materials for recycling forecasts to different businesses. Hawassa is a location where the facility will be established and other operations will begin soon. “We will collect plastic waste and then our recycling unit will process it, which will eventually be used for the production of finished products,” he added.

Enjoying the benefits of graduating from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Addis Ababa University and working for an institution for the past three years, he was inspired to start his own business through the opportunity offered by Bruh’s innovative competition. And he asked the government to provide a working ground to properly exploit his work, which will create more than 3,000 job opportunities in the next two years.

Soressa Dereje, founder of Quad copter drone for small scale farming mechanism, on the other hand said that his company has the ability to manufacture drones that perform multi-purpose farming activities in Ethiopia and provide training service to their customers on handling drones.

As for him, he set up his business in the city of Jimma, in the regional state of Oromia, to solve the problem of the agricultural sector of the country. Aware that the agricultural sector is the backbone of the national economy; their products are very outstanding in supporting the sector alongside creating job opportunities for the citizens.

It provides pesticide spraying drones, a sound system to scare away locusts and other crop-eating animals, and a machine that picks and places harvested grain and performs other agricultural activities to increase productivity. As indicated by market forecasts, the product’s net profit will increase by a remarkable percentage within a year, and productivity will increase steadily over the next three years, he noted.

According to him, health problem regarding the spraying of chemicals in the agricultural sector; locusts or other invasions; the lack of productivity related to the use of traditional farming methods coupled with the poor use of time and energy in farming are among the problems they have identified and can be solved by this newly innovative product.

He further pointed out that the product is vital in saving farmers’ time, human labor and health, generating additional profit for the farmer, creating high-quality production and creating a healthy environment.

Mentioning that his initial investment cost for startup is ETB 645,000, he explained that investors from agricultural sectors, farmers, trade unions, government sector are the beneficiaries of this product. Starting its work with 8 employees for the first year, the company will create 25 employment opportunities for the next year and for more than 500 people after expanding to different regions, added Soressa.

All in all, entrepreneurs recommend young people for their initiation into creating their own startup rather than waiting for the solution to their unemployment on one side only. They also explained that there are huge alternatives for young people in creating their own employment opportunities for their own benefit and that of others. “It’s like killing a lot of birds with one stone if we’re working to create our own work,” they suggested.

BY HIZKEL HAILU

THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY 16 JANUARY 2022 EDITION